Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashid, Vice-President, Prime Minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Defence right; Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, left; Pope Francis, second left; and Dr Ahmad Al Tayeb, Grand Imam of the Al Azhar Al Sharif, sign a commemorative stone at The Founders Memorial. Hamad Al Mansoori / Ministry of Presidential Affairs
The signatures on a commemorative stone after the signing of the "Human Fraternity" document at The Founders Memorial. Mohamed Al Hammadi / Ministry of Presidential Affairs
Pope Francis and Dr Ahmad Al Tayeb greet each other after signing the Human Fraternity Document at the Founder's Memorial in Abu Dhabi. AFP
The religious leaders exchange documents. AFP
Pope Francis shakes hands with Dr Ahmad Al Tayeb. Reuters
The document seeks to encourage fraternal relationships between all people, bring an end to conflicts and help the poorest in society. AFP
Pope Francis signs the document. AFP
Dr Ahmad Al Tayeb signs the document. AFP
Pope Francis delivers a speech during the Founder's Memorial event. AFP
Pope Francis at the Founder's Memorial. The memorial is tribute to the UAE's founding father Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Reuters
Pope Francis on stage. Reuters
Dr Ahmed Al Tayeb delivers his speech. AFP
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai delivers a speech during the Founder's Memorial event. AFP
ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - February 4, 2019: Day two of the UAE papal visit - (L-R) HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, His Holiness Pope Francis, Head of the Catholic Church and HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President, Prime Minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Defence, attend the Human Fraternity Meeting, at The Founders Memorial. ( Rashed Al Mansoori / Ministry of Presidential Affairs ) ---
ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - February 4, 2019: Day two of the UAE papal visit - HH Sheikh Tahnoon bin Mohamed Al Nahyan, Ruler's Representative in Al Ain Region (L), HH Lt General Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior (2nd L) and HH Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chairman of the Crown Prince Court of Abu Dhabi and Abu Dhabi Executive Council Member (2nd R), attend the Human Fraternity Meeting, at The Founders Memorial. ( Rashed Al Mansoori / Ministry of Presidential Affairs ) ---
Pope Francis adjusts his earphones. AFP
Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al Azhar arrive at the Founders Memorial. AFP
The event at the Founder's Memorial is a part of the Human Fraternity Meeting, which has been taking place in Abu Dhabi this week. AP Photo
ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - February 4, 2019: Day two of the UAE papal visit - Guests watch His Eminence Dr Ahmad Al Tayyeb, Grand Imam of the Al Azhar Al Sharif on screens deliver a speech during the Human Fraternity Meeting, at The Founders Memorial. ( Eissa Al Hammadi / Ministry of Presidential Affairs ) ---
The Founder's Memorial stage in Abu Dhabi. Reuters
ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - February 04, 2019: Day two of the UAE papal visit - HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President, Prime Minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Defence (C), His Holiness Pope Francis, Head of the Catholic Church (R) and His Eminence Dr Ahmad Al Tayyeb, Grand Imam of the Al Azhar Al Sharif (L), arrive at the Human Fraternity Meeting, at The Founders Memorial. ( Mohamed Al Hammadi / Ministry of Presidential Affairs ) ---
Pope Francis condemns violence in God's name and says religions need to be more assertive
At the Founder’s Memorial in Abu Dhabi, the pontiff spoke of victims of war, asking faiths and cultures to join together as 'one human family'
The world’s great religions must become more assertive in rejecting armed conflict, Pope Francis has said, as he called for renewed efforts to end the “miserable crudeness” of war.
Addressing a multi-faith meeting on Monday at the Founder’s Memorial in Abu Dhabi, which is dedicated to founding President Sheikh Zayed, the pontiff spoke of the victims of conflict in Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and Libya.
He warned that “we will either build the future together or there will be no future,” urging members of different faiths and cultures to join an ark of fraternity as one human family to secure peace.
In a wide-ranging speech, the 82-year-old also addressed issues such as safeguarding children from abuse, fake news and the dangers of materialism.
The speech came towards the end of a historic day in which Pope Francis met with UAE leaders and representatives from the Muslim Council of Elders.
He signed an important agreement with Dr Ahmed Al Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al Azhar, to encourage fraternal relationships between all people, bring an end to conflicts and help the poorest in society.
The Human Fraternity document is a declaration of "good and honest intentions" and a "guideline for future generations," a video describing the document said.
Also speaking at the Founder's Memorial, Dr Al Tayeb called on Muslims to protect Christian communities in the Middle East and Muslims in the West to integrate into their communities.
"You are part of this nation ... You are not minorities," he said.
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, witnessed the signing.
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed described it as "document that aims to reinforce the values of tolerance and coexistence".
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid said the UAE "was proud to host the historic meeting of His Holiness Pope Francis and His Eminence Dr Ahmad Al Tayeb".
On Tuesday, the Pope will deliver a landmark public Mass to around 135,000 people in what will be the biggest ever gathering of Christians in the Gulf region.
During the speech, the pontiff repeatedly returned to the theme of renouncing armed conflict. The choice of topic will be seen as particularly prescient as the region has been blighted by wars and sectarianism over recent decades.
Every form of violence must be condemned without hesitation, he said, while no violence can be justified in the name of religion.
ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - February 04, 2019: Day two of the UAE papal visit - HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President, Prime Minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Defence (C), His Holiness Pope Francis, Head of the Catholic Church (R) and His Eminence Dr Ahmad Al Tayyeb, Grand Imam of the Al Azhar Al Sharif (L), arrive at the Human Fraternity Meeting, at The Founders Memorial. ( Mohamed Al Hammadi / Ministry of Presidential Affairs ) ---
“Religions, in particular, cannot renounce the urgent task of building bridges between peoples and cultures,” he said.
“The time has come for religions to more actively exert themselves, with courage and audacity and without pretence, to help the human family deepen the capacity for reconciliation, the vision of hope and the concrete paths of peace.”
Closing his speech, he said coexistence based on the principles of education, justice, inclusion and universal rights were the seeds of peace that the world’s religions had a responsibility to promote.
“Perhaps as never before, in this delicate historical situation, it is a task that can no longer be postponed: to contribute actively to demilitarising the human heart,” he said.
“The arms race, the extension of its zones of influence, the aggressive policies to the detriment of others, will never bring stability. War cannot create anything but misery, weapons bring nothing but death.
He talked of how human fraternity requires the people, as representatives of the world's religions, to reject any approval for the word 'war'.
Pope Francis, right, and Egypt's Grand Imam of Al Azhar, Dr Ahmed Al Tayeb, attend the Founders Memorial event in Abu Dhabi. AFP
"Let us return it to its miserable crudeness. Its fateful consequences are before our eyes. I am thinking in particular of Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Libya," he said.
“Together, as brothers and sisters in the one human family willed by god, let us commit ourselves against the logic of armed power, against the monetisation of relations, the arming of borders, the raising of walls, the gagging of the poor; let us oppose all this with the sweet power of prayer and daily commitment to dialogue.”
Earlier on Monday, Pope Francis held an official meeting with Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, the Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, the Dubai Ruler, at the Presidential Palace.
Pope Francis, who has become known for rejecting the trappings of power, arrived in a humble Kia Soul to see a 21-gun salute fired in his honour.
The pontiff presented Sheikh Mohamed with a framed medallion depicting a meeting between St. Francis of Assisi, who the Pope chose to be named after, and Sultan Malek Al Kamel, which took place in Egypt 800 years ago this year.
The pair are said to have built a bond of mutual respect, despite meeting during the Crusades when the Muslim and Christian worlds were at war.
He later visited the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque for a private meeting with members of the Muslim Council of Elders, before travelling to the Founders’ Memorial where he gave his much-anticipated address.
In the remarks, he praised his Emirati hosts and the freedom of religion that exists in the UAE. The country, he said, was one where “sand and skyscrapers meet”, a prosperous and hospitable location that has become an important global meeting place between cultures and religions.
He also warned that with development can come what he called adversaries, such as an “indifference” that sees human beings reduced in the eyes of others to how much they earn or the jobs they do.
“[Indifference] does not care about the dignity of the stranger and the future of children,” he said.
“In fact, a purely utilitarian development cannot provide real and lasting progress. Only an integral and cohesive development provides a future worthy of the human person.”
Pope Francis delivers a speech during the Founders Memorial event in Abu Dhabi on the first visit by the head of the Catholic church to the Muslim-majority Arabian Peninsula. AFP
An interfaith meeting held in Abu Dhabi last year, under the theme of child dignity in the digital world, followed a similar congress in Rome on the same topic.
The congress in Italy went ahead with the Pope’s “complete support and encouragement”, and the Pope emphasised the Catholic church's commitment to the protection of minors. He pledged ongoing support to further efforts.
The comments come as the institution has been hit by a series of scandals.
He also spoke about the importance of educating young people, who he said are now often faced with negative messages and fake news.
The younger generation, he added, must learn not to surrender to the "seductions of materialism, hatred and prejudice”.
“They need to learn to object to injustice and the painful experiences of the past,” he said.
“They need to learn to defend the rights of others with the same energy that they defend their own rights.
“One day, they will be the ones to judge us. They will judge us well if we have given them a solid foundation for creating new encounters of civility. They will judge us poorly if we have left them only mirages and the empty prospect of harmful conflicts of incivility."
Champions parade (UAE timings)
7pm Gates open
8pm Deansgate stage showing starts
9pm Parade starts at Manchester Cathedral
9.45pm Parade ends at Peter Street
10pm City players on stage
11pm event ends
Tamkeen's offering
Option 1: 70% in year 1, 50% in year 2, 30% in year 3
You can donate to several registered charities through a “donation catalogue”. The use of the donation is quite specific, such as buying a fan for a poor family in Niger for Dh130.
The site has an e-donation service accepting debit card, credit card or e-Dirham, an electronic payment tool developed by the Ministry of Finance and First Abu Dhabi Bank.
You can donate online or order Smiles n’ Stuff products handcrafted by Al Noor students. The centre publishes a wish list of extras needed, starting at Dh500.
Beit Al Khair Society has the motto “From – and to – the UAE,” with donations going towards the neediest in the country. Its website has a list of physical donation sites, but people can also contribute money by SMS, bank transfer and through the hotline 800-22554.
Dar Al Ber Society, which has charity projects in 39 countries, accept cash payments, money transfers or SMS donations. Its donation hotline is 800-79.
Dubai Cares provides several options for individuals and companies to donate, including online, through banks, at retail outlets, via phone and by purchasing Dubai Cares branded merchandise. It is currently running a campaign called Bookings 2030, which allows people to help change the future of six underprivileged children and young people.
Those who travel on Emirates have undoubtedly seen the little donation envelopes in the seat pockets. But the foundation also accepts donations online and in the form of Skywards Miles. Donated miles are used to sponsor travel for doctors, surgeons, engineers and other professionals volunteering on humanitarian missions around the world.
On the Emirates Red Crescent website you can choose between 35 different purposes for your donation, such as providing food for fasters, supporting debtors and contributing to a refugee women fund. It also has a list of bank accounts for each donation type.
Gulf for Good raises funds for partner charity projects through challenges, like climbing Kilimanjaro and cycling through Thailand. This year’s projects are in partnership with Street Child Nepal, Larchfield Kids, the Foundation for African Empowerment and SOS Children's Villages. Since 2001, the organisation has raised more than $3.5 million (Dh12.8m) in support of over 50 children’s charities.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched the Noor Dubai Foundation a decade ago with the aim of eliminating all forms of preventable blindness globally. You can donate Dh50 to support mobile eye camps by texting the word “Noor” to 4565 (Etisalat) or 4849 (du).
When the W Dubai – The Palm hotel opens at the end of this year, one of the highlights will be Massimo Bottura’s new restaurant, Torno Subito, which promises “to take guests on a journey back to 1960s Italy”. It is the three Michelinstarred chef’s first venture in Dubai and should be every bit as ambitious as you would expect from the man whose restaurant in Italy, Osteria Francescana, was crowned number one in this year’s list of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants.
Akira Back Dubai
Another exciting opening at the W Dubai – The Palm hotel is South Korean chef Akira Back’s new restaurant, which will continue to showcase some of the finest Asian food in the world. Back, whose Seoul restaurant, Dosa, won a Michelin star last year, describes his menu as, “an innovative Japanese cuisine prepared with a Korean accent”.
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
The highly experimental chef, whose dishes are as much about spectacle as taste, opens his first restaurant in Dubai next year. Housed at The Royal Atlantis Resort & Residences, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal will feature contemporary twists on recipes that date back to the 1300s, including goats’ milk cheesecake. Always remember with a Blumenthal dish: nothing is quite as it seems.
Starring: Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, Dakota Johnson
Rating: 4/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Rain Management
Year started: 2017
Based: Bahrain
Employees: 100-120
Amount raised: $2.5m from BitMex Ventures and Blockwater. Another $6m raised from MEVP, Coinbase, Vision Ventures, CMT, Jimco and DIFC Fintech Fund
Fixtures
Wednesday
4.15pm: Japan v Spain (Group A)
5.30pm: UAE v Italy (Group A)
6.45pm: Russia v Mexico (Group B)
8pm: Iran v Egypt (Group B)
Champions League Last 16
Red Bull Salzburg (AUT) v Bayern Munich (GER)
Sporting Lisbon (POR) v Manchester City (ENG)
Benfica (POR) v Ajax (NED)
Chelsea (ENG) v Lille (FRA)
Atletico Madrid (ESP) v Manchester United (ENG)
Villarreal (ESP) v Juventus (ITA)
Inter Milan (ITA) v Liverpool (ENG)
Paris Saint-Germain v Real Madrid (ESP)
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
